So, you have the basic idea for a story, and you think you have a good idea of what it’s going to be about, but then you reach a wall. The problem is, you write fantasy or science-fiction and you just can’t seem to tap into your creativity, can’t seem to come up with more ideas for your world. Maybe you’re not so good at fleshing out your initial ideas. Or all of your most brilliant and original concepts seem to have been used up in your older stories. You want your new tale to be unique and believable, but how?
Whether you’re writing high or low fantasy or science-fiction, you’re going to need to do a little—or a lot— of worldbuilding. Sometimes the ideas flow and sometimes you get stuck and your creative mind seems to have shut down or disappeared. Well, I’m here to help with that. Below is a list of questions I ask myself while brainstorming ideas for new worlds. They allow me to delve into specific areas of worldbuilding, taking me from the broad and vague, to the very particular and distinct. They cover a broad range of topics and many of them will naturally overlap. Feel free to skip around as you see fit. This list is not meant to be definitive but to get your imagination going, to help spark ideas, and to help you create a detailed, complex, fleshed-out world.
I find that using the questions as writing prompts has helped me the most. I hope you can use them to help shape your own worlds too. So, grab your laptop, (or if you’re like me, a pen a notebook) and dive in!
The Questions
Starting Point
How big or small is the world you’re building? The world can be anything from an island, to a small country, to a collection of countries, to a planet, to an entire galaxy. How many different types of people/races/creatures inhabit this world and what are their most basic relationships to each other?
Communities
People
What people or beings inhabit this world? Are the inhabitants humanoid aliens? Are they human-level-intelligence aliens but don’t look anything like humans? Hyper-intelligent-way-smarter-than-human aliens? Or just humans? Are they animals? Are there different races? Different tribes? What do the different people look like? What are the social constructs that exist in your world? What are the social dynamics between groups? How do these social constructs relate to cultural and religious differences or status within a specific culture or religion?
Culture
What are their cultures? Even if your inhabitants are non-human, they’ll still have some kind of culture. How might the different groups act/believe the same or differently and how might those beliefs create alliances or enemies between groups? How do people style their hair? What kind of clothes do they wear? What colors do they favor? Do they live in cities or in the countryside? How does city life or agrarian life influence their beliefs about the world? How does it play into their cultures? Into their daily lives and rituals? What do people eat? What are people forbidden to eat? Is there a signature dish from each culture or a cooking style? Do the people dance or paint or tell stories? What kind of art are they into? Why? What inspires them? Are they inspired by the mountains they live near, or the ocean they spend so much time sailing on? Is their culture dominated by fear of the world around them or by wonder and joy? What are the rules of engagement amongst people? What are the rules of etiquette? Would someone be confused if you tried to shake their hand? Do they salute each other or greet each other in different ways? Would it be considered rude to wear your hat indoors or to eat all the food on your plate when you’re a guest in someone’s house? (Look to real cultures for inspiration but be careful about using the exact thing from the culture if it isn’t yours.) How do the rules of etiquette relate to religious beliefs and cultural customs?
Religion
What higher powers do your inhabitants believe in? Are those higher powers real and active in their lives? Real, but not active? Or are they just not real at all, but the people believe? What are the names of the gods and goddess, if there are any? What are their ranks? What area of nature do they hold sway over? What people are they dedicated to protecting? (A goddess that protects women and small children in particular, for example.) What are the religious rites and ceremonies? How do the people worship? In groups or privately, at home? What are their rules around dating and marriage, if any? Does marriage even exist in this world? What are the family units like? Who is in charge of the family? Does great grandma make the rules? Is it a patriarchal or matriarchal society or somewhere in between? What are this world’s ideas and attitudes towards different sexualities and gender identities? How does that impact the individuals that live in this world?
Setting
Geography
What’s the geography? Sketch a rough map. Are there deserts and oceans? Forests and mountains? Grasslands and hills? What does this place look like? What’s the terrain and the weather? How might the terrain influence how the society functions and where people live? If any wars take place, what geographical barriers need to be overcome or can be used for defense?
Location
Where is everyone located? How might the location of groups of people in their environments influence their lives and events that take place in your story? Do they live in a desert? Does that make them more vulnerable or more resilient? (Water is scarce= vulnerable. People can go longer without water= more resilient.) Do they live near the ocean? Does this give them better opportunities because they can fish and sell the fish, or does it hurt them because the inlander’s religion forbids them from eating fish and therefore, they’re left with little to sell? Are they afraid of the ocean for superstitious reasons? Have they adapted to the inlanders’ not eating fish by creating fish oil that can be used for other important purposes?
Planets
How many planets are in your world and how is each planet used? Is one used for mining while another is used for living? Is one used for growing food for the entire solar system? Are some inhabited by dangerous wildlife/plant life, so no one actually goes there… except your heroine, who has found a way to survive? How much gravity is there in your world? How does the gravity affect how people/animals/plants function?
Science & Technology
General
How advanced is the technology? Is your society without any technology at all outside of basic tools made in small forges? Is the society extremely advanced? What are they capable of? Can they reach the speed of light or close to it? Can they teleport? Do they have devices that can show the near future or the past? Time-travel? In what ways are their technologies different from ours in the real world? How does their technology influence their daily lives? Do they deliver messages verbally, on paper, digitally, telepathically, or magically? Do they have robot cooks, or do they have to pick food from the farm and cook everything from scratch? If magic is abundant and used by lots of people, does technology matter less to this society? How is time measured? Is it the same or different from our world?
Travel & Transportation
Has your society developed steam engines? Combustion engines? Do they have air balloons, planes or other flying transportation? What do those look like? Do they have to walk to work or do they take the super advanced public transportation? Or do most people have personal transportation? Carriages? Horses? Horse-like animals? Magic carpets? Can people fly, perhaps? Magical means of transportation? Can people teleport magically so that there was no need for other transportation inventions? Who has access to what types of transportation? Can everyone travel to different countries or planets or is that limited to those with a certain status or with a certain amount of money?
Natural Resources
Does your society mine for minerals or other resources? Are those resources akin to the ones in our world or are they fictional/magical? Is there a special metal that is the source of this society’s wealth? Is there a special mineral that fuels their devices and cars? Is there a specific resource that they rely on to fuel their magic? Does the society have magical means of making things? Magical means of mining, of powering their inventions?
Communication
Does your society have advanced communication like cellphones, radio, etc.? Do they still send messages by way of a human messenger? Or are there special animals or creatures they’ve trained for delivering messages? Do they have inventions that provide a unique way to communicate across long or vast distances? If your society doesn’t have the technology for these things, is there a magical means or substitute for them?
Medicine
What advances have been made in medicine? How are the sick treated? Is sickness something the inhabitants do or don’t understand well? Do they use herbs to heal or magic potions? Do they use medicine developed in labs? Are there doctors and nurses or local witch-healers? Is medicine free/easy to access or only for the rich?
Drugs
Are there drugs in your world? What are they used for and how are they perceived? Are they used for religious purposes? Are they used by only specific people within the religious hierarchy or can everyone use them? Is the drug used for spiritual, physical, or psychological healing? Are drugs purely recreational? Are they perceived as a normal part of society or are they seen as damaging? Are they criminalized?
Politics
Authority
Who are the rulers? What is the political structure? Is there a president or a queen? Is there a ruling group of elders, one from each tribe? How are decisions made? Are things put to a vote? Do regular citizens vote or just the elite? How do the commoners or citizens feel about the groups in charge? Do they hate the king? Want to kill the governors? Or do they love the royal family and would do anything to defend them? Is the ruler a dictator, or a loving, caring person who has earned the trust of their people? What is the level of law and order? How much does law and order rule versus chaos?
Hierarchies
Are there class systems? Hierarchies? Is upward mobility in society based on merit or is status inherited from parents? Who is above who in this society? Who has more privilege? Who has more authority? How easy or difficult is it to escape one’s status? How easy or difficult is it to pursue what one wants to pursue in life? Is it expected that people stick with their family business/trade or is it accepted that different people have different talents regardless of the rest of their family? Are certain groups forbidden from doing certain professions? Are their religious hierarchies that are prominent in this world?
Access
What is each groups’ access to resources and how does that influence the power dynamics between them? Do the people have access to weapons? What kind? Who has access and who doesn’t? Who has access to political power and who doesn’t?
Policing
Who keeps order? Is there a formal police force? Does the army keep order? What power do the police have? Are they corrupt or fairly honest? Are there any police at all? Who is in charge in carrying out justice? Does that responsibility lie with the police or is there a court system? Or do people take their complaints to the queen on Wednesdays?
Economics
Production & Distribution
What’s the economic system? Does the ruling class distribute and control everything? Is there a free market? What countries/tribes/peoples ship/sell what products to whom? Who has economic alliances? Who has less resources and is therefore left at a disadvantage when it comes to trading? Who produces the products and who buys them? What are the most important imports and exports that keep the countries/tribes/groups running smoothly? If those important imports were taken away, what would happen? What importance do those imports have to the use of magic? For example, if one tribe needs seaweed in order to perform their magic, but they live in the mountains and rely on shipments, what happens if the tribe by the sea is wiped out by a foreign power? What happens if the tribe by the sea decides to go back on hundreds of years of tradition and stop selling the mountain tribe the seaweed? If the magic is powered by a particular mineral found in the depths of mountains, what happens when that mineral starts to become scarce because of hundreds of years of mining?
Currency
What kind of money do people use? Paper money? Coins? Something else? Do they give a little of their life force every time they purchase something? Are books used as a currency? The seeds of a specific plant that only grows in a specific place? What is seen as valuable? Does this society have a currency at all? Is it all trading and bartering?
Magic Systems
Basic Rules and Functioning
What kind of magic exists in this world? Are there different types or just one? If more than one, what are their relationships to each other? How do they interact? Are people with different magics unable to reproduce together (whether because of biology or social taboos)? Is the magic based externally or internally? Externally—get the magic from an external source? Internal— powered from inside the body/psyche? How is the magic activated? Words/spells? Food/potions? Nature/ harnessing energy from storms, ocean waves, volcanoes? Movement/ martial arts? If your world is based in the real world, how is the magic kept secret? How does the magical world operate without detection? Are there secret societies of magic? Specific places where the magically inclined gather? Do they put up magical barriers around their safe places? How does magic interact with technology? Does it cause tech to stop working or does it make the tech stronger?
Dangers & Benefits
What are the limits on this magic? Can overuse kill the user? What are the dangers of using magic, whether those dangers are inherent in the magic or are social dangers? What are the immediate consequences of using magic, if any? Do people become tired after using it? Is there a wait period before they can use it again? Does it drain their soul? Does it make them age faster? What are the benefits of using the magic? What can one gain? Does it help with daily life? Are there spells that help you do the dishes and other physical labor? Can it make you stronger, smarter, faster?
Cultural & Social Influences
What cultural beliefs or rituals might exist around the magic? Is the magic attributed to the gods/goddesses? Is it just a fact of life, like nature? Are there magical initiation ceremonies/a specific age you have to be in order to use magic, whether that be because of the magic itself or because of cultural norms? Are there magical taboos? (Forbidden to raise the dead, etc.) Are people with different magics automatic enemies or allies? Must one be of a specific race or tribe to use magic? Who has access to magic and why? Can everyone use magic or only a select few? Who can use magic and who can’t? Why? Is it a result of power imbalances or is it just nature?
Purpose
How is magic used in daily life? Is magic used to cook/clean/create? Is it used only defensively/for fighting? For healing? Is it used as a means of survival? Is it gifted by the gods to specific individuals for the purpose of protecting a certain group?
Nature
Animals
What are the animals like and what are the inhabitants’ relationships to those animals? What animals are seen as pets, as food, as dangerous, as worthy of worship? If their deities look like specific animals, how does that influence their relationships with those animals? What do the animals look like? How are they similar/ different from animals in our own world? Are the animals the main characters? If so, who are their enemies? Their natural allies? What resources lie in their territories?
Plants
What are the plants like? Are they like ours in the real world or are they magical or have magical properties? Do they move around? Do they float two feet in the air because of the low gravity? Are they carnivorous? Do they serve as housing to elves and fairies? Are specific plants worshipped or seen as powerful spirits? Are specific plants revered because they’re seen as gifts from the goddesses?
Education
What is considered education? Is going to school and learning math and science considered education, or is learning how to fight or cook or clean? Is education about learning to fly a spaceship, learning physics and everything to do with space travel? Is education about learning specific skills for a profession? Does everyone have access to this education or is it limited to specific racial/ethnic groups? Is it limited only to those that can afford it? Do people learn magic at home or in formal schools? Both? Do people learn basics like math and language? Can most people read or only the elite? How does the education or lack of education affect group dynamics? The dynamics between individuals?
Conclusion
Now that you have all this information about your world, it’ll be tempting to tell the reader all about it. Don’t. It can’t all fit unless you’re writing a massive epic and even then, you want to spread the information throughout the story. You don’t want any info dumps in your narrative. Let the facts come up naturally in the story as they become relevant. Otherwise, let it go—it’s your little secret. I hope that these questions have been useful in triggering ideas and finding inspiration. Good luck on your writing journey!
Comments
Post a Comment